Dear Group and Lurkers,

The usual bunch of babbling buffoons in the group's Peanut Gallery
has been making fun of my well-repaired boom. They include Whining Oz,
Gay Gaynz, JRBadbreath, and Crotchety Ole Thom.

They seem to criticize my sturdy boom on the basis of two things mainly.

1) It is heavy ruining light air performance.
2) It is slightly bent thus ruining sail trim.

They cannot claim it is weak because it has held up under more than
ten years of hard sailing since I repaired it and it is still far stronger
than the original extrusion was. It is so well sealed that there still is
not a speck of rust or corrosion to be seen.

1) Allow me to debunk the 'heavy' claim. The pipes I used as internal sleeves
weighed a total of ten pounds. This means the boom is ten pounds heavier
than usual. The epoxy I slathered them with when I slid them home with
the help of a 2X6 sealed them and glued them to the boom but the epoxy's
weight is insignificant. Some say this extra ten pound will ruin the sail shape
in light-air sailing. Simply not so, as more than ten pounds of downward
force is placed on the sail when the mainsheet is hauled down as it must
be even in light air. All the slightly heavier boom does is make it slightly
easier to sheet in the mainsail.

2) Allow me to debunk the second claim concerning a slight bend ruining
the shape and trim of the mainsail. Simply not so. Just look how racers
intentionally bend their mainmast with fancy backstay pensioners in
order to flatten their mainsail for better performance. My boom
accomplishes the very same thing because of the bolt rope in the boom
and the shelf foot which closes when the outhaul is tightened. The bend
has no effect upon the sail shape when the outhaul is eased because
then the shelf foot opens up and the sail relaxes along the boom and
foot but when the outhaul is tensioned, the shelf foot closes and the
bolt rope in the boom tends to flatten the sail. This is such an efficient
system that, frankly, I am surprised nobody has thought of it before.
The first racer who decides to use a bent boom and a bolt/rope shelf-
footed sail will do well because he will have a definite advantage over
staid and unoriginal minds (or lack thereof) as demonstrated in the
ignorant individuals listed above.

These two simple explanations demonstrate how lacking in knowledge
everyone except Gilligan is when it comes to knowing what makes a fast
boat like "Cut the Mustard" even faster.

CN